Hard to know what the giant coffee company wanted to happen when they distributed a coupon via email for free coffee. The coupon was a simple image file and was quickly forwarded to a wide audience. Viral marketing or botched campaign? Their “rumor response” page claims that the coupon was not intended to be so successful:

An email offering a free Starbucks iced coffee was distributed to a limited group of Starbucks partners (employees) in the Southeast United States on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 with instructions to forward to their group of friends and family. Unfortunately, it has been redistributed beyond the original intent and modified beyond Starbucks control. Effective immediately, this offer will no longer be valid at any Starbucks locations.

We apologize for any confusion and inconvenience as a result of this offer.

At more than $5.00 for a large (grande) iced beverage, I could be convinced that this was a mistake. However, when you look at the announcement above (“group of friends and family”) as well as the fine text of the coupon, the rules just seem too unsophisticated to be unintentional. I mean, it does not even say something obvious like “Southest Starbucks Employees only”. They clearly used the word “person”, instead of a more specific term like associate employee, or staff member. The only thing worse might have been “per life-form”. I can just imagine people bringing their pets to Starbucks — “here’s my coupon and, let’s see, my fish wants an espresso and my dog would like a latte”:

Oh well. I guess you could ask your “Barista” for discount code 114 instead and they might just be so impressed (could they be sequential?) they will punch it in without question. Of course, you will have to try not to look surprised then they give you a ceramic candle-stick holder for half price.